Major League Pickleball Nets Another Major Sponsor, Signs Landmark Deal with Japan’s Toray Industries, Inc.
Major League Pickleball (MLP presented by DoorDash) and Japanese materials manufacturer Toray Industries, Inc. have announced an agreement naming Toray a platinum partner with Kitchen branding at the professional, coed, team pickleball league’s events. This partnership makes Toray the first-ever Asia-based partner of MLP, expanding the league’s brand reach internationally as pickleball continues its unmatched domestic growth.
“MLP and Toray have been diligently and strategically working towards this partnership for several months, during which time we have been fascinated to learn about both the size of Toray’s business and the critical role that they play in the area of carbon fiber,” said George Killebrew, UPA Chief Revenue Officer. “They will literally be our partner, helping to shape future global paddle production. The Toray branding of MLP’s kitchen—as well as several business-to-business opportunities at cities along the MLP schedule—will help make Toray a household name and a well-recognized brand in the U.S.”
“Through this initiative, we aim to contribute to the development of pickleball globally, starting from the United States, and support people’s health and well-being through sports,” said Mitsuo Ohya, President and CEO of Toray Industries, Inc. “We also aim to enhance the recognition of our carbon fiber business in the U.S., create communication opportunities with Toray’s related companies in the U.S., and partner companies and potential customers across the country. As a global advanced materials manufacturer, we hope to increase awareness of Toray and create opportunities for co-creation partners to address global challenges such as climate change, resource circulation, safe water and air, health, and medical care.”
Toray has a long history of supporting various sports in the Asia-Pacific region, including the Toray Pan-Pacific Open Tennis Tournament, Division One Men’s & Women’s Volleyball in Japan proper, and sponsorship of participants in the Shanghai International Marathon. With a pioneering spirit, Toray has been dedicated to the growth of these sports and athletes from their early stages, leveraging the power of materials to provide support to each of these sports.
Now, Toray is proud to contribute to the further growth and innovation of pickleball, the fastest—growing sport in America! Through pickleball, Toray hopes to raise awareness and allow people to experience the advantages of their cutting-edge materials, many of which have current or future applications in pickleball paddles, pickleballs, and sports apparel.
Toray believes in the power of materials to change society, and are pleased to showcase their state-of-the-art products as part of their partnership with the MLP. Toray’s carbon fibre, Torayca®, is already used in some high-grade paddles. Moving forward, the company will look to use their R&D philosophy of “pursuit of the ultimate limits” to provide higher performance carbon fibers in pickleball paddle designs as well as providing Toray resins in the manufacturing of pickle balls themselves.
Toray’s long-range goal is to collaborate with various pickleball equipment manufacturers to create ever more functional products, contributing to the improvement of the sport’s competitive level through next generation technologies from one of the world leaders in materials creation and manufacturing.
The league’s 2025 season schedule—featuring 10 regular season events, the mid-season tournament, and two weeks of playoffs, all from April-August, plus November’s standalone MLP Cup—will get started with the full slate of 16 Premier Level teams in action in Orlando, Florida from 24 to 27 April 2025. With this sponsorship agreement, Toray’s corporate symbol will be displayed on the courts at all 14 MLP tournaments. Additionally, the New York event scheduled for August will be positioned as “Powered By Toray”—with the Japanese company being the title sponsor for the San Diego event.
